At dozens of Texas state agencies, male workers remain better compensated than female workers, on average. This table shows employment information on state agencies with at least 100 employees, excluding universities.
The data in the table comes from February 2014 payroll data collected by the Comptroller’s Office. The table includes the percentage of female workers at each state agency as well as the number of female employees that are paid enough to rank among each agency’s 20 highest-paid employees.
* The "gender compensation gap" represents the distance between the average male salary and average female salary. A positive amount means the average male salary is that much higher than the average female salary. A negative amount means the average female salary is that much higher than the average male salary.
Agency | Employees | % Women | Women among 20 highest-paid workers | Gender compensation gap* |
---|---|---|---|---|
Texas Department of Criminal Justice | 38,286 | 45.2% | 7 | $2,766.84 |
Department of Aging And Disability Services | 16,014 | 73.6% | 9 | $298.44 |
Health And Human Services Commission | 12,109 | 79.6% | 9 | $8,214.90 |
Department of State Health Services | 11,936 | 63.9% | 5 | $1,027.57 |
Texas Department of Transportation | 11,618 | 21.3% | 0 | -$4,257.75 |
Department of Family And Protective Services | 11,442 | 83.9% | 14 | $3,330.67 |
Department of Public Safety | 9,235 | 42.7% | 5 | $18,644.33 |
Office of The Attorney General | 4,081 | 70.4% | 3 | $15,637.68 |
Texas Workforce Commission | 2,939 | 65.1% | 8 | $6,053.45 |
Parks And Wildlife Department | 2,930 | 34.9% | 2 | $10,514.85 |
Department of Assistive And Rehabilitative Service | 2,857 | 76.2% | 12 | $8,258.95 |
Texas Commission On Environmental Quality | 2,655 | 51.6% | 8 | $6,339.58 |
Comptroller of Public Accounts | 2,640 | 56.6% | 7 | $6,040.23 |
Texas Juvenile Justice Department | 2,555 | 53.4% | 9 | $1,821.95 |
Texas Department of Insurance | 1,393 | 62.3% | 8 | $9,946.23 |
Comptroller of Public Accounts, Judiciary Section | 921 | 24.6% | 6 | -$8,281.95 |
House of Representatives | 787 | 50.6% | 9 | -$6,917.11 |
Texas Education Agency | 760 | 66.4% | 6 | $12,632.81 |
Railroad Commission | 729 | 43.5% | 4 | $12,044.53 |
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles | 714 | 64.6% | 9 | $13,068.22 |
General Land Office And Veteran's Land Board | 631 | 46.6% | 4 | $8,974.07 |
Department of Agriculture | 598 | 51.2% | 6 | $2,619.40 |
School For The Blind And Visually Impaired | 590 | 69.5% | 12 | -$1,341.46 |
Alcoholic Beverage Commission | 589 | 40.9% | 8 | $9,086.15 |
Teacher Retirement System | 588 | 54.8% | 2 | $30,241.48 |
School For The Deaf | 572 | 67.7% | 16 | -$3,019.43 |
Senate | 567 | 54% | 11 | -$3,081.28 |
Texas Military Department | 537 | 25.9% | 5 | -$2,017.53 |
Texas Facilities Commission | 391 | 34% | 8 | $6,005.29 |
Texas Legislative Council | 385 | 42.1% | 8 | -$2,155.82 |
Texas Veterans Commission | 366 | 41.8% | 5 | $924.45 |
Department of Licensing And Regulation | 360 | 60.8% | 5 | $12,653.40 |
Employees Retirement System | 325 | 55.7% | 5 | $25,300.49 |
Texas Lottery Commission | 299 | 60.9% | 8 | $8,206.86 |
Department of Housing And Community Affairs | 297 | 60.3% | 6 | $4,152.49 |
Water Development Board | 270 | 41.9% | 2 | $9,501.63 |
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board | 236 | 63.1% | 8 | $12,603.26 |
Office of Court Administration | 212 | 66.5% | 9 | $22,440.96 |
State Preservation Board | 211 | 53.6% | 10 | $4,005.75 |
Secretary of State | 189 | 71.4% | 6 | $16,430.93 |
Department of Information Resources | 187 | 51.9% | 8 | $10,186.43 |
State Auditor's Office | 183 | 52.5% | 9 | -$1,235.01 |
Department of Banking | 183 | 42.6% | 4 | $20,304.44 |
Texas Historical Commission | 177 | 61% | 9 | $2,157.46 |
Office of Injured Employee Counsel | 170 | 86.5% | 9 | $19,140.84 |
Public Utility Commission of Texas | 167 | 53.9% | 8 | $10,060.80 |
Board of Medical Examiners | 162 | 72.2% | 12 | $11,235.00 |
Library And Archives Commission | 157 | 58% | 13 | -$2,236.36 |
Legislative Budget Board | 150 | 51.3% | 9 | $3,567.84 |
Office of The Governor | 144 | 60.4% | 11 | $6,382.25 |
Texas Animal Health Commission | 140 | 38.6% | 5 | $6,960.86 |
Office of Risk Management | 118 | 71.2% | 12 | $5,698.56 |
Governor's Office, Trustee Programs | 106 | 56.6% | 6 | $17,967.35 |
State Office of Administrative Hearings | 106 | 62.3% | 8 | $15,568.19 |
The Texas Tribune is pleased to provide the opportunity for you to share your observations about this story. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask that you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or wandering away from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of the Tribune, and your real name will be displayed. Thanks for taking time to offer your thoughts.
Comments (10)
Stuart Greenfield
interesting in the leg, house and senate, women earn more than men. Nice to see the AG made the top 10 in disparity, as there are only 8 other agencies where the gender compensation gap is greater. Would be useful to see if one can adjust for education, experience, occupation, and race to determine how other factors contribute to disparity.
Daniel Williams via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So you know, the extra bin in Houston is green, not blue.
Alfred Sepulveda
Averaging in large groups provides for possible smearing and loss of information. Similar groups of employee work profiles are where the statistics must be done and then stratified to show inter-group and intra-group effects. Hence, one must find work similarity groups first. If there are few (compared to the other gender) or no members of a particular gender in each of these work-profile stratified groups, that calls for a different question - why such discrepancy in those groups? The statistical estimators within those groups, can then better address the other real question - equal pay for equal work and not just equal pay period. A decade or so ago, UC Berkeley performed a similar analysis in a discrimination case and self corrected its analysis in the same above way. It strengthened the case for the plaintiff, a female university professor.
connie swinney
Many Texas women choose to put family before career. These women make choices to work less, raise families and even become homemakers at certain times in their lives. Such decisions influence salary outcomes. Also, family-centric women decide not to pursue higher-end salaries because with that decision comes more work and less time for family. To ignore this fact leads to misleading and irresponsible reports connected to pay analysis based on gender. However, opinion writers have no qualms making the leap to sexism, when much of the income disparity is likely tied to motherhood. Surveys/analyses/studies about why women make these choices are scarce to non-existent.
Chuck Wright via Texas Tribune on Facebook
So the State works just like the Obama WH that way . .. sad and ironic at the same time. . . .
Neil Moyer via Texas Tribune on Facebook
so, wot's surprising??
Chris Thornton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
All I see is a listing of the dept, how many employees total in that dept, and how many of the employees are women. I bet there is a pay difference in each job at each dept. And a person's education level might have something to do with the pay difference as well. And take into account pay raises over the years depending on how long a worker has been there.
Leonard Hingle via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That's the way republicans feel; women are worth less than men . . .
Gregory Ellis
Shouldn't this be comparing males and females in the same jobs, not "average male" vs "average female"? Looking at the male/female split in the top 20 positions provides interesting information, but the "gender compensation gap" that doesn't account for position seems useless.
Scott Wood
You should be comparing the pay gap between genders in the same job classification. Some agencies my be over-represented with scientific/technical jobs which pay more and attract more males or personal care jobs which pay less and attract more females. The question should be about equal pay for equal work, not whether one gender makes more than another.